Some GOP Governors Embrace Medicaid Expansion

Nov 21, 2013 5:46 pm ET

AP

By Patrick O’Connor and Louise Radnofsky

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The health-care fight consuming Washington looks a little different at the state level where a handful of Republican governors have embraced a central tenet of the new law: expanding Medicaid to cover the poor.

Prominent Republican governors have pegged their political fortunes to the expansion, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is often mentioned as a White House hopeful in 2016, and others who have potentially difficult re-elections next year, such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

Their decision to expand the state-run health-care program for the poor marks a sharp split from the bulk of the party at a time when most Republicans have decried President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement.